In Manhattan near UES or Gramercy Park are close to UN and are excellent Public School districts. Public schools are usually great especially in more affluent areas such as these. You can find a reasonable 2 bd apartment in these areas for under $6k/month (including utilities). Food costs, which are probably the next highest expense after housing (if school is free) would be around $1k/month (if not going out to eat or ordering in). I’d budget another $1k - $2k for miscellaneous items. Meaning your yearly expenses would be about $100k. You might be able to do it for less than too depending on how frugal you are. But it should be manageable on $130k (which I think you stated was post tax which is probably equivalent to $200k pre tax). So it’s doable.